Watching the State of the Union...+School

Oh man. That speech...was just...it was so...yeah.

Oh and Math 30 Applied in English is interesting....kind of have to get used to the fact that I can now converse with people in English and such without the "Hé! Parle en français!". That and...it's wierd in general. *points to fact she wrote 31 janvier and not January 31st in her notes* I'm so French...

Funny thing,

Alot of people are assuming I'm in PoliSci this semester. I'm highly confused as to why they think so. (Or well, I get alot of "Hwah!? You're not in PoliSci?!" but that might be the hopes one expects when they compare their timetables with a friend or peer.) Same thing happened in Gr 10 and 11. Alot of people thought I was in MUN. Anyway, PoliSci as interesting as it sounds, I really don't want to take due to some personal reasons and the fact that I know I won't enjoy it. Besides, I may already have 101 credits but I still need to take Chem 30 online and I need my spare and my averages are far from University-worthy at the moment and in my case that, Chem 30 and Math 30 >>>PoliSci.

Wierd...

And I have no idea if I'll get the 400$ rebate. I think I may have to file a tax return...my dad got a 400$ one and I qualify for one so I should go downtown or wherever and solve that.

Random: I like reading up on Ideologies...*picks at all the Sociology references*

Anyway, I have no idea why I'm typing this as I am very tired and very hungry (that's a lie. I just had a waffle with jam) still hungry abd tired.

let's see if I can get to Mrs K to talk about University before school tomorrow morning...because University woes>>>>timetable woes. IMHO.

*falls asleep*

WTF?

Are there no stamps for sale in Calgary or something or is it just me?



Oh and FLA 30 Part B Diploma equals asdfghjkl;blah.

For those of us in the Immersion Programme

Sooo...FLA 30 Part B final's on Monday. *eyes copy of '94 Français 30 Diploma Exam*

Oh I found out something about our FLA 30 Diplomas that might be pretty interesting to all of us.

For while now, I've always been puzzled as to why some Practice Diploma Exams were decorated with Français 30 watermarks and not French Language Arts 30 title and watermark. I had thought it was another name for the FLA progamme. Forgot how I found it out, (edit: cbe-learn) but here's how the levels of French one can learn here in Alberta breaks down:

(lowest to highest in some respect)
French 10, 20, 30- FSL. But we all knew that....right?

French Language Arts (FLA) 10, 20, 30- This is actually just an "advanced" level of FSL sort of kind of IMHO. CBE-learn explains it as being this:

French Language Arts 30 is an advanced French course designed for students in an alternate French Language Arts program.

Français 10, 20, 30- This, surprisingly isn't a a fancy alternate name for French 10, 20, 30. It's actually a more literature/language oriented course than FLA (this actually seems to be THE English Lang Arts of the French language pretty much). The description goes on to say that this course is designated for students in Francophone programs. Oh boy. (So the Calgary French School and the super-expensive Lycées and private schools I would assume here) =/

FLA 30 and Français 30 require students to write a Diploma Exam.

i feel somewhat cheated. *raises and eyebrow and walks off* I mean, if I've just spent the last 9 years here learning absolutly nothing I will cry. I will. I mean, I wtf, at one point had a strong Francophone accent but it's kinda dead and dying and blah and blah and such. Whyyy? *emoes some more*

No wonder my friend Chris (who also moved here from Montreal under the same circumstances as me) had so much trouble just getting used to Montreal.

Okay. I'll stop emoing about my French because I might sound like I'm really...arrogant or ungrateful or something like that.

my french has been stagnated beyond recognition

Ok. Stopping now. Seriously am so stopping now.

*picks up an old copy of Albert Camus' L'étranger and looks at it*

Did I mention I found two old Sociology textbooks from when my mom was in University? (circa late-70s) It's downright freaky because that's what I'm applying for as my major for University and these two books have been sitting in the basement this entire time while I've gone and been all 'Sociology....Sociology sounds really cool and interesting to study!'. Freaky. Must be channeling my mum...which in her case, is actually a good thing.

Was walking along Nostalgia Avenue...

Anyone remember Aqua? You know "Barbie Girl", "Candyman", "Cartoon Heroes"? That Aqua?

*is listening to My Oh My*

I only ever downloaded My Oh My and Cartoon Heroes when I was younger. Anyone have other songs by them? =D

My kitchen is...dirty...*cries*

Sooo...I have to mop up three washrooms, broom the kitchen, mop that too and fix our cracktastic vacuum so I can vacuum.


Did I mention I made the horrifying discovery that what I thought was coffee shreds/remenants of my dad's coffee-making are actually little buggy things that are making me stay out of the kitchen right now? Yeah. *flails* I could broom them up, or I could drown them all in a toxic soapy mix of Mr. Clean. <-still has to broom up the other random stuff on the floor before she can mop


I hate bugs. Even little itty bitty ones....

Oh and I'm applying for a job at the Saddledome =O

Change into digital champions.

I need to find my old Digimon tapes... *points to quote above.* *eyes boxes of tapes*

Anyways,

I trekked 1hr to E. Manning to register for Chem 30 online. Sadly, forgetful me forgot to bring the form from the counsellor. (And by the time I got there it was 3:30 and registration ended at 4pm) I have an excuse, since really nothing worked in my favor today, I had to send a (late) letter to Canadian Trust Fund and I didn't have any stamps. So I trek to Mac's and I was told that they had no stamps. So I trekked to Dalhousie, took the train, stopped at Branton, got turned back because it was 3:00-ish and made my way downtown to catch the bus for a 25 min ride to E. Manning. Yeah. Just yeah.

So next week after FLA 30 Part B, my grand plan is to head to Branton for lunch, try and send my letter that morning (on my way to school. That way, the post'll pick it up the same day =D), and somehow get to Manning again and hope I'm not on a waiting list. =X

Il Divo and Bond are fantastic groups btw. (One's opera the other's a funky violist quartet from Australia)

Some Japanese songs are just downright addictive...

Like "Go! Go! Meganes" (Go Go Glasses. Oh yes, you heard me...Go Go Glasses.) Basically, the song talks about how great glasses are and how handy and superbly AMAZING they are. like one line that says:

Glasses Glasses Glasses Glasses are the best!

Glasses Glasses Glasses Glasses GO! GO!

Slips down, pushed up, put on, take off GO! GO!

Yeah...But it's dangerously catchy. (BTW, the excerpt above fails to show how really wierd the lyrics of this song are...)



BTW, Jon Stewart is incredible. Man, he's mentioned the Canadian elections at like...the begining of his show for the last week and a half. That's just...that just wins. Can't wait till Samantha Bee comes back. Love Ed Helms =D
(Plan to get dad to buy Indecision 2004 has so far not left the ground...yet.)


BTW at the debate, one debater declared this (last night)

"Canada was a Totalitarian society"

...We were Totalitarian in the 30s-40s ish? *raises an eyebrow* Yeah.

The Jr High Debate was...ow. But...good.

In some, resolute way...I suppose?

Ohhh, my brain hurts. BUT, the winners of the tournament were so incredibly short and incredibly CUTE. The bunch of us basically were standing there squeeing from CUTENESS overload. Other than that, there were some wierd debaters...How come I don't remember anything like this when I watched debates in Jr High? Photographic memory is glitching. =X

I watched Davinci's City Hall. It's been taking a while to get used to since I missed like 5 episodes of Davinci's Inquest and in City Hall my favorite character (Leo Shannon) is missing after he and a bunch of vets got "6 week vacations" from their Seargant who was basically sleeping with the Vancouver Police Chief who's a total jerk and was following all of his orders. And since they killed off the guy's wife last season, I'm a bit worried he was sent to the chopping block too or something...

I mean, is Mick Leary Chief Coroner now? I'm quite confused.

Anyway, CSI is quite interesting. BUT, my dad just stole the remote to watch an Ethiopian "Praise our Athletes"/"Praise Ethiopia" DVD his friend gave him. Do I understand it? Nope.

So, no, I don't get to see the end of CSI.

Analysis on Calgary West + the election

Aside from the fact I couldn't vote (see previous post), I had something to say about this riding...

If you have a looksee at the results,

The Greens were in third. Which to me, didn't seem convincing...What occured to me is that it seemed the Anti-Anders Conservatives and non parked their vote with the Green which explained a bit of why the NDP candidate---Teale Phelps-Bondaroff--- was out of the picture. I mean, there might've been some Green voters who thought "Hey, I like this party".

It's a wierd style of voting, parking your vote based on the lesser of the many evils and not on how their policies compare to the party you view as being "evil". Personally, I don't think it's the best way to vote but sadly, I think, it happens everywhere. Another style of voting that happens ALL THE TIME in elections, is voting for the sake of the party and not for the sake of the representative you're sending....which is probably why Anders won in Calgary West again. It's something that happens with all societies in elections. The person they're electing to represent them in Parliament is voted for not by their name, but by their colours.

I mean, this happened in alot of ridings, not just Calgary West.

Woah, mini sociology lesson.

Election reactions...

Pettigrew, McLellan, Gauthier and some Liberals out. Some traditional Bloc seats gone too...especially in Quebec City, which shocked me a bit.

Martin's leaving the Liberals. Hm. Well, it'll be emotional for him at the Convention. Who could be a new leader? Not Graham I don't think...Stronach? It'd be interesting...Perhaps even some of the Chretien-era MPs who were outed by Martin (In something that as I review the more it looked like...a coup? I don't know, that might be a harsh description) to return?

Personally, I'm not at all enthused about a Conservative Minority government. Maybe it hasn't sunk in. Maybe, I won't start to go "What the hell is wrong here" until Parliament begins and Harper digs into the pile of solved debates and pulls back out the gay marriage debate. Maybe I'll be like "Hey, he's got ideas, he's no legendary PM. He's basically the same as the last but with different ideals". Who knows. Right now, I feel Harper won based on the fact that he had kept a shut muzzle on his MPs and like I saw footage where the bodyguards kept the reporters (a fiesty one in this clip) away from this one Conservative who's known for his controversy.

Harper wouldn't have gotten here without having used the NDP and Bloc to bring down Martin's government. I dunno, I had a bit of a suspicion when this all began. *shrugs*

Coalition governments...?

I hope Duceppe is smart enough, like he usually is, and doesn't ally himself with the Conservatives.

Kind of seeing Liberal-NDP with perhaps the Bloc. A coalition of opposing ideals but the same goals?

The NDP doesn't want to trigger an election though...

Or, as my Math just awoke, a coalition would work with the Liberals-Bloc and the Independant (155 =O).

Will Harper's governemnt work?

Not efficiently. If he decides to change some social issues, he'll have a two-way or three-way opposition that'll be against it in some way. If they really can't change social issues, how can they function? If they'll have a three-way coalition against them, they can't pass jack (no pun.)....or maybe they can...who knows!

Will he implement his changes? Like the senate? Time will tell. Let's see if this guy can keep all of his promises for the West...

Quebec

So Val on CBC says that the Conservatives have broken into Quebec. In ALL the interviews I saw of Quebec Liberal or Bloc voters on the news, ALL of them said they were voting for the Conservatives because they didn't like the Liberal scandal or didn't see the Bloc as useful. (okay, that could partially justify the "broken into Quebec" comment) I don't think it's permanent. It could be, it could not. Quebecers can be easily convinced to vote Liberal again or Bloc rather than Conservative.

Alberta

What?
So uhm, Harper's got to satisfy the demands of his Alberta promises and BC ones.

Rest of Canada

Hm. I also think that the votes the Conservatives received, if not most, were "Martin and the Liberal Party Punishment" votes.

Results
Cons: 124 Liberals 103 Bloc 51 NDP 29 Independant 1

This is definately making the front page of the New York Times. (I mean something like "HEY LOOKIT GUYS! OUR NEIGHBORS ARE CONSERVATIVE MINORITY GOVERNMENT!" and then have in small letters "Explanation on what a 'Minority government' is on A5".) Apparently, C-SPAN---the US equivalent of CPAC one could say---was airing this election. Shocking, no? I just found this bit out from CBC.ca.

Wonder if CNN picked it up too (not the detailed results but the who won).

From the responses from the Americans, they're blissfully ignorant it's not even funny. One man from Florida was like "I hope you will have a controversy free governement" or something. I dunno. The two analysts were like "Has he not been paying attention to the campaign?".


Random
Teale got 5370 votes. Kudos! =D

Power couple?
Haha. Chow and Layton together in Parliament. Interesting.

I hate Elections Canada

Didn't vote. Don't want to talk about it.


I'm just getting the blame for all this from my dad at the moment. Man... -_-



Man I hope that if we get the Cons it's a Minority that'll be quickly defeated by a Liberal-NDP-Bloc alliance or some other alliance.

So here's a tip for all of you:
IF ELECTIONS CANADA tells you on the phone that you'll have to sign a First Time voter form of sorts and they say you have to do it ASAP or before you vote, dont listen to taht. From my personal experience, you're supposed to sign this form the day you WILL be voting not before.

Anyway, if I feel up to it later, I'll explain in detail what exactly led to this disaster.

And they wonder why there's such low youth turnout...=/

Maybe I should make a big deal about this and get on CBC. Or not.

Mm?

In French, we call this day "Jour J". I'm surprised English media hasn't called it that a all. (Jour J=D Day)

Shall go out and vote. I've kinda made a decision and I'm hoping it goes without a hitch because when I last went there (Jan 17) my dad forced me to go and sign this form I was told by Elections Canada that I had to sign. What the lady on the phone didn't tell me, was that I would be signing this the day I planned to actually vote. So there were some complications but the two guys told me it should be okay, I just have to go back Election Day (today) and I just need to re-fill out the form and I'm done.


Scary. I'm voting

Oh and all you guys in Calgary West have alot of outspoken smart people on CBC's "Riding Talk" forum. I mean, Chris M and Ben H posted as did numerous "Guys we shouldn't vote Anders in. Even if you like the Cons". Calgary Nose Hill is ultra pro-Conservative it's scary.

I even had to reply to an idiot who brought up the NEP as a reason for not voting Liberal here (I used my middle name to post---Ariane)

Mr. Gary's comment


Calgary Nose Hill Riding Talk - here
Calgary West Riding Talk - here

I'll spend my day looking at other Riding Talks. (To look, just go look for your riding, click "Riding Talk" on the top right)

I'm watching the 4th Digimon movie (with bad subs. But it's not too bad. Okay, so towards the end, it is. Aie. I can understand what the characters are saying in Japanese though.). Geez. I'm such a kid at heart. lol

So there's going to be a new Digimon series in Japan soon. Called Digimon Savers and people are speculating it's a sequel to the third season or another AU series. Whatever, it's Digimon and the last time Digimon aired was...2 or 3 years ago....Seems like 10 yrs or something.





I feel like I'm 12 all over again...Teeheehee 8D

Aiiiieuux

It's the 22nd! And I am still undecided. (Not as much but still) Whee~

Ah well. I'll go to Tom Baines, vote, get on with my boring life, try and regain my missing creativity and draw, stare at the TV, the laptop I've hijacked from dad, rage over the fact Black Cat is only being made into 24 episodes when it could very easily expand to 5o or 52, plot with vanccie about what stuff we should buy at our last otafest together, sleep and...

I should apply for a job. Like at the Saddledome, where my old soccer teammate used to work..my elementary school secretary told me to put down her daughter's name on the application. Should be interesting.

In other news, my graphic tablet isn't working too well in Photoshop or OpenCanvas. It's like my tablet died....oh good god. (Us artists, when we loose a handy tool --pencil, pen, charcoal, graphic tablet, computer-- we'll be depressed. Or at least I will....)

Actually, to be frank, I'd be in tears if I had no means to express myself on the computer. With paper, I usually make do with the traditional napkin and pen.



Anyone going to do the Debate thingy for Poirier at the Teacher's Convention? I'm doing my usual videographer duties and I need company. Every videographer needs company.


Oh and tomorrow's my mom's would-be 60th. Dunno what to do. Might try and reach my half brother and talk or something. Pat's in India with her son and her fiance so... Or, I can use it as a motivation to call everyone back home in Montreal to say hello and drop the announcement that I'm applying to Universities in Montreal. (I mean, I'm applying for rez, but if I can stay with my godmum out in Saint-Lazare, Quebec or my cousin and her mom in Mount-Royal or something without being like an extra load that'd be great. ) Bah. I'll figure something out...Maybe scour the basement for old photo albums with pics of my mom or something?

And I got new headphones. Blue JVC Gumy ones. =D

Oh and CBC's China Rising is interesting.

The whale in Thames died =(. Not fun.

As is what happens every single weekend , and what consists of my weekend, I did nothing. No surprise. I just sat around, did nothing, slept, doodled, made myself some lunch-breakfast, and was bored.

Actually, the only exciting thing I did was tell Vanccie what this omake (gag comic) in a volume of Fullmetal Alchemist she gave me was talking about after I spent 2 hrs looking for this kanji. And it was interesting. Basically what happened, the author Arakawa Hiromu made a gag of a scene where her character Edward sees his dad return after a mysterious 10 yr absence and demands where he's been and what he's doing at his mom's grave. (Ed basically hates his dad. Alot) The gag parodies this where the same thing happens but when Ed asks where he's been, his dad is like "Here. A present" which turns out to be a porno mag. To which Ed's "Respect for Dad metre" (took me two hrs to find that kanji. Gah) shoots up to the "MAX" mark and he's got this aghast look on his face and his nose is bleeding.

The author's a genius, but her sense of crack humour begs the question of if she herself smokes something. But I won't investigate that.


Random: I got annoyed by a post by someone on LJ saying that we should cancel our votes to send a message to politicians.

I basically replied with some statement that exposed the hypocrisy of the post's statement and why they didn't suggest to vote for other parties and such...Yeah.

(See, this proves you don't need to be a debater to debate. If that made any sense. It's late, forgive me)

Trudeau was on CBC's across Canada thing...where the guy takes a Campaigner from wherever they're from to the other end of the country to see how their views fair against the views of an average citizen. This epsiode involved this one campaigner being taken from Vancouver (she was Alberta-born) to Montreal where she ran into Trudeau.

Needless to say I felt happy after seeing sights and trying to not to scream out the names of the streets they were walk along. That and, I can now see how my aunt and mom succumbed to the Trudeaumania of the 70s and 80s...Aw geez.

Besides the fact that I fail at shopping, (and that i rarely do any,)

Chem was one of the more interesting exams...mainly because I didn't get a chance to study for it due to a horrible headache I had yesterday evening that kept me in bed for a few hours and I'm sort of feeling another one come on...hopefully it won't be the case. =X

Anyhow, Law & Order is pretty interesting right now.

Ah, nostalgia

So I wrote Math which was insanely short, went to the University with company for lunch, dropped off the ID card I found, went back to the school, talked to Mrs. K, talked with Mah, Fred, Steph and Cindy before their part B, walked to Branton to say hi and check up on Mme C's health (THOSE WHO WENT TO BRANTON: She's off chemotherapy but she's still at home.).

Got alot of hugs too. Talked with old Science teacher as she walked to a meeting. Much fun. Told my friend Emily who's in Grade 7 that she's got the best Science teacher EVER.

Oh, btw, Branton had a motivational speaker today. And Teale circa grade 9 is actually far from traumatizing---it's hilarious, Oliver and Mike circa their gr 9s look like twins and a bunch of people look freakishly different from 3 years ago.

TO DEBATERS:
Did M Poirier teach at Branton in the early 90s? I was looking and he was in the Staff photos next to Mr Pope. And the "Martin Poirier" through the 90s began bearing ressemblance to the big guy we all know. (He had black hair too.)

Don't think the "Martin Poirier is common!" works in Alberta. Quebec there's a bunch of Poiriers but I dunno.

After that, I doubled back to BT, said hello to the secretaries, some old teachers, talked University stuff and hung out till 5:30 with the kids at my old daycare.

Funny fact, a theory I sort of thought about some years ago, was proven today when I visited my old elementary. My theory was that the age line, if you will, between the "childhood environment" and that of the "semi-real world" would thin. And it has.

I ended up having a conversation about guys and a bit about dating and other teenage stuff with an 11 and 12 yr old.

Yikes!

4 days till d-day Election day. Still am undecided.

Random,

I made a "GO VOTE" animated icon

=D

Actually, I started it yesterday afternoon while I was bored/working on English. *laughs*

And btw, the border thing is something from the coding of the layout. When I have time I'll browse through the css and html coding to see if I can remove the tag without damaging the layout. Shouldn't be too hard.

*CSS + HTML > all. Apparently xml and asp and php are better but I don't know how to use any of those without getting a headache*

FLA 30 Diploma

Okay, so the Écrit Expressif was easy, the Écrit Littéraire I'm doubtful about. Very doubtful. Hopefully the three teachers in Edmonton who correct my Part A will be very nice and I'll get a good mark.

Oh and because I'm special that way, I had issues adjusting to the English (US) Input from the usual English (Canada) Input I have on my keyboard that allows me to do accents and such without alt codes.

Am I the only one who feels it wierd that the fate of our FINAL final marks rests in the hands of 3 individuals we'll never see or meet?

Anyways,

Vanccie came over and we attempted to study for math. I got lovely little gifts from her too =D. Very happy. I got a Japanese volume 11 of Fullmetal Alchemist, volumes 2, 4 and 13 of BLEACH and some Japanese OSTs and keychains. Thanks~! If I feel up to it, I'll post pics the author of Fullmetal does for the covers under the cover jackets of each volume. They're usually crack-ish in nature.

So right now in between studying, I'm flipping in between Martin Mystery and Delilah and Julius.

Oh snap.

Ah geez, I've been so busy I completely forgot that I have to go sign some form(s) at Elections Canada before I get my voter's card. And it doesn't help that the Elections HQ in my riding is really, really far away. Somehow I have to convince my dad to drive me that far out (It's somewhere in Country Hills) and let me sign the form.

I'm so busy today too. I have to finish two things for English, write up my Extenuating Cirumstances letter, go and register for Chem 30 online and study. Hm.

Should be interesting.

Hah, I knew I couldn't keep this thing up.

(it's my second blog here. my old one died because of evil FTP hosting issues...then again I was pretty young when I made it but it had an amazing layout)

So to start this first post in a long time, I have to declare that I have horrid money management. Or so I think.

My dad gives me money sometimes to cover my weekly lunches since we don't have time to go to the groceries and get sandwich-making materials. Sometimes, however, that 20$ will get spent on something else...ie....comics?. So this year, I have to resolve to curb my spending habits (the splurges happen once in a while). In the past I have collected my day's change and put it in a jar or cup or something as a method of saving money...perhaps I should start doing that again.

Oh and today and yesterday I watched a movie based on a Korean manga called Shin Angyo Onshi which was pretty good. Beautiful animation and fantastic music. I'm awfully curious what the manga was like. I'll have to pick it up (among 20 other volumes...hahaha) if and when I go to Montréal.


And exams are this Wednesday....First on the board: FLA 30 Part A--the essay/personal response.

I've always had issues with these kinds of exams, the lit. essay/personal response...=X I mean, people tell me how easy they are, but I always have issues with them. Who knows. Maybe this year will be different (and it kind of needs to be since my FLA 30 final mark is a 71%. Oh boy.)

Beh, I've chosen to use the computer to write it up...probably a good idea and probably also a bad one. We won't know till Wednesday. (I have 2hrs to write up both a personal response and lit. essay)

And I sent my first University application out of 4 to McGill. Took a while to explain to my dad that these days you have to fill it out online and such. (Now, I have to somehow convince him to lend me his credit card for the other 3 which top 50$, 100$ and 155$ for Concordia, Calgary and Ottawa respectively. A grand total of....150+155...205$ + the 60$ for McGill and that's 265$ in application fees. Yikes.)

Will I get in? Likely not. Especially since I sent it so close to the deadline and that I can't send in the supporting documents till I finish my Extenuating Circumstances letter and get a letter comfirming that from my guidance counsellor. Anyways, I wanted to apply not only for the education but because I had promised myself to do so as a kid. Hahah...

did i mention I feel slightly nervous?

試験は大嫌いだよネェ・・・　Ｔ＿Ｔ